At the moment, men at arms are overpriced. They are tough, but slow and there are many counters. Moreover, MAA need to be in larger numbers to be effective, which pushes the price even higher. My suggestion would be that they should cost 60 food/20 gold.
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That’s the same cost as a spearman, but MaM can do much more than them; how much should spear man cost after that change?
Spearmen cost food/wood, not food/gold, though. This makes it far easier to recruit them in larger numbers. Only in the (very) late game, where wood becomes more valuable, does this change.
I don’t see how that makes them easier to recruit in large numbers since gold and wood gather at the same rate, can you explain to me why you believe that?
Men at arm compete with units like Knight and Siege because of their gold cost. Plenty of tech costs a lot of gold. And it is less available on maps than wood. I just don’t think it makes sense to compare gold 1 to 1 with food and wood.
I don’t have a dog in this discussion, but for most of the game, gold is at more of a premium than wood. Pretty much all the “good” units require gold, Landmarks require a lot of gold, Siege requires a lot of gold, research requires a lot of gold, etc. Wood, on the other hand, is usually only needed by less powerful units, and for building construction, and those need it in much lower quantities than many of the things that require gold.
True. Now, how much more valuable is gold compared to wood?
Agreed, but is essential to know how much more valuable is gold relative to wood on average, otherwise, any other comparations would lack the basis to be considered.
Villagers who collect gold do not need to go back and forth, while villagers who collect wood need to walk for a while. Although there is less gold in the map, they can also be replaced by merchants in the later stage. All in all, all resources have the same value.
Do you know what will be?
Goth from aoe2.
Some time ago Goth had discount -35% since dark age. So players do strat “200 militia” in dark age.
With 60/20 you can justify do all in pushes.
Some people forgot, but the first strong strat in Genesis was HRE blacksmith + mass MAA.
In the early and middle stages of the game, we will gather a lot of villagers for wood and food, because we need to make buildings, villagers and soldiers, so in the early and middle stages. Food and wood are important, we can watch our own replays, the activities that the most villagers do is the most important, because there is more demand
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I think MAA are fine. One of the most solid units. I see no reason to polish them. You often see them too.
They only have one real counter: Xbows. Knights are just a super soft counter. Just mix in some spears and the tide is on your side.
Yes, they’re slow, but they’re also the sturdiest unit in the game (for the price). They have high HP + Armor and get no bonus damage except heavy (so almost only Xbows). They also have several unique civilization upgrades
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In the early game you have gold veins near your base.
You have wood near your base.
If you want gold, send vills to gold. If you want wood, send vills to wood.
That’s why people talk about things as costing “x total resources / rez”, because in the early game they actually are comparable, you just point your vills to whatever you want to get.
tbh mining gold is faster than gathering wood. Mining camp is always efficient, a receding woodline that constantly has to be refreshed, isn’t. You also aren’t gathering wood until your villager has cut down the tree.
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Disagree - crossbows are their only specific, direct counter. They’re already one of the best, most cost effective units in the game. I can’t see any justification for making them cheaper.
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If MAA are made cheaper than they already are, they can be massed as easily as spearmen. As long as gold veins last, much better, because gather rate is shorter for gold overall since you don’t have villager travel time factored in as much like gathering from farms and wood.
If MAA are able to be made as quickly, they will overpower any type of counterplay. The meta will shift to knights + MAA, and try to swarm the enemy.
MAA is meant to be a generalist. They are able to be countered, yes. But they are perhaps the only unit in the game without a hard counter. Knights are good vs MAA, but MAA trade a bit better in equal resources fight. Crossbows are good vs MAA, but they can’t kill MAAs without something else tanking them. Siege is pretty solid, but, MAA can zerg sieges. Without tanky units shielding siege and ranged units, MAA quickly become counter units.
Being a solid and armored generalist unit should come at a slight premium.
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Ok, the counter-arguments make sense. I still think that costs weigh too heavily on food - Crossbowman, Knights and Zhuge Nu have a better distribution, as a comparison.
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Check columns HP per resources
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I think an explanation for the mens cost is that they are often used as early game ending base attack units.
Having this act be very difficult unless a player has a BIG lead could be seen as a plus from a design perspective.
Additionally it makes sense for the elite units to be a slight rip off because when the end game is reached and people have their 200 pop doom stacks then quality as well as composition comes into play. Translating good economic skills into stronger armies.
I was more referring to how it might be redistributed from food to gold. Like maybe from 100/20 to 60/60. Not any more that they should become cheaper.
Thank you for the column, by the way. Really useful
90/30I feel very good. 